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Treason's Harbour by Patrick O'Brian
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Treason's Harbour (original 1983; edition 1997)

by Patrick O'Brian

Series: Aubrey-Maturin (9)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
2,672355,409 (4.18)58
All Patrick O'Brian's strengths are on parade in this novel of action and intrigue, set partly in Malta, partly in the treacherous, pirate-infested waters of the Red Sea. While Captain Aubrey worries about repairs to his ship, Stephen Maturin assumes the center stage for the dockyards and salons of Malta are alive with Napoleon's agents, and the admiralty's intelligence network is compromised. Maturin's cunning is the sole bulwark against sabotage of Aubrey's daring mission.… (more)
Member:stevepugh
Title:Treason's Harbour
Authors:Patrick O'Brian
Info:HarperCollins (1997), Paperback
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:novel, fiction, warfare, naval, napoleonic, 19th century

Work Information

Treason's Harbour by Patrick O'Brian (1983)

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English (28)  Spanish (3)  Swedish (2)  Italian (1)  Czech (1)  All languages (35)
Showing 1-5 of 28 (next | show all)
We're reaching peak O'Brian with this book. Packed full of the best of A-M. The sense of humor is there, and adventures are about equally divided between land and sea. I love the interplay between Jack wishing to carry on an actual affair with Mrs. Fielding, the beautiful, married Italian woman (voiced expertly by Patrick Tull) and Stephen's fake affair with her, meant to titillate the local French spy organizations. Jack, sore over the arrangement and unaware that it's a fake affair, moralizes over Stephen's status in a hang dog way.

We have here also Maturin's diving bell used to recover - almost- a sunken 'treasure' from an Turkish galley, and Maturin's rather goofy friend the half blind Reverend Martin. Jack has also to contend with friend-for-life Ponto, Mrs. Fielding's enormous dog, who he saves from the cistern.

There are also spy shenanigans aplenty as Lesueur circles Stephen and plots against him with his Maltese henchmen, while Stephen, always with the upper hand, delivers false information to them through Mrs Fielding. Add to this the presence of Way, that sneaking, conniving spy planted high up in the British hierarchy, and how Stephen beats him at cards, winning a ship assignment for the newly minted Captain Pullings among other things.

Of course, Surprise is there in all her glory, as is Heneage Dundas, the awful Admiral Harte, the employment of a drag sail as a ruse de guerre, a hike across a desert with camels, Aubrey's diamond chelengk, a captured French privateer, a dashing rescue of Mrs Fielding by Stephen in the night - so much going on here that's so much fun. This one is worth a re-re-re-read. ( )
  jsmick | Aug 13, 2023 |
Another great book in this series. Very addictive. I like the friendship between Jack and the doctor and the spy activities, etc. ( )
  kslade | Dec 8, 2022 |
Book 9 in Patrick O'Brian's series of sea stories featuring Captain Jack Aubrey and ship's doctor and part-time spy Stephen Maturin. In this one, they go after a potentially incredibly valuable prize and deal with some issues of compromised intelligence.

You know, it sometimes occurs to me to think that either O'Brian knows nothing about pacing or just does not care, and this volume is very much a case in point. Rambling conversations about nothing relevant go on for pages while dramatic moments where plot-critical things are happening are sometimes passed over very quickly. And yet somehow, at his best, he makes that work for him. And as far as I'm concerned, it definitely worked for him here. This was kind of slow, and not all that exciting, but doggone it, I found it just terribly pleasant, somehow, as I sat there reading it in my living room on a series of lovely spring days, imagining the desert breeze wafting in through my windows might at any moment start bringing me the scent of the ocean and feeling content with my life of not being shot at by the French. ( )
  bragan | Apr 10, 2021 |
A bit of a curate's egg in that whilst it had the excellent characterisation, the realism, the evocative prose of all Aubrey/Maturin novels not a lot happened. The overall story of Aubrey and Maturin did not progress very much. But then I would guess it was often like that. ( )
  malcrf | Dec 28, 2020 |
It was a while since I last read an Aubrey & Maturin book but I've had this one on my to-read for too long. I did not enjoy it much though. It was ok, but there was too much text about nothing and too little text about actions.

The background is that Aubrey and Maturin are stranded on Malta, waiting for repairs of Aubrey's ship(s) or a new command. Malta is awash with rumors about what is going on and is a haven for French spies, and double agents. Since Maturin's cover is long blown he becomes the target of an operation and from there we go.

Maturin also acquires a diving bell. That is fun for him.

The completionist in me could not skip this book, but I probably should have. ( )
  bratell | Dec 25, 2020 |
Showing 1-5 of 28 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (6 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Patrick O'Brianprimary authorall editionscalculated
Šimonová, JanaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hunt, GeoffCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Merla, PaolaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Tull, PatrickNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vance, SimonNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wannenmacher, JuttaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Smoothe runnes the Water, where the Brooke is deepe,
And in his simple shew he harbours Treason.
(2 Henry VI)
Dedication
Mariae sacrum.
First words
A gentle breeze from the north-west after a night of rain, and the washed sky over Malta had a particular quality in its light that sharpened the lines of the noble buildings, bringing out all the virtue of the stone; the air too was a delight to breathe, and the city of Valletta was as cheerful as though it were fortunate in love or as thought it had suddenly heard good news.
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All Patrick O'Brian's strengths are on parade in this novel of action and intrigue, set partly in Malta, partly in the treacherous, pirate-infested waters of the Red Sea. While Captain Aubrey worries about repairs to his ship, Stephen Maturin assumes the center stage for the dockyards and salons of Malta are alive with Napoleon's agents, and the admiralty's intelligence network is compromised. Maturin's cunning is the sole bulwark against sabotage of Aubrey's daring mission.

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W.W. Norton

2 editions of this book were published by W.W. Norton.

Editions: 0393308634, 0393037096

Recorded Books

An edition of this book was published by Recorded Books.

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